


A Bad Cliché

by KeybladeBanditJing



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: AU, Bede's there too, F/M, Gloria is bad at research, Hop is a librarian, Leon and Marnie are Not Helping(tm), Slow-ish burn, and reaching the top shelf, but really they are, they're both idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21950224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeBanditJing/pseuds/KeybladeBanditJing
Summary: In which Gloria is trying to write a research paper and Hop is doing his best to get her the material she needs. And both of their roommates are annoying. Even if they may be right. Maybe. A little.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 25
Kudos: 220





	1. Chapter 1

“Heading back to the library again?”

Gloria glanced over at her roommate as she fumbled her scarf on over her bag strap. “Yeah. I need to confirm a couple things and still need like three more sources for this paper.”

Marnie raised an eyebrow. “You know the internet is a thing, right?”

Gloria gave up on tying a decent knot and settled for throwing the rest of it around her neck and praying it stayed on. “Apparently my professor doesn’t. I already have my one allowed online source that isn’t Wikipedia.”

“That’s rough,” Marnie replied, not looking up from her phone. “At least you get to see that cute librarian again, huh?”

“Oh my God stop it. He took pity on me and helped me find what I needed.”

“He also got a few books for you.”

“Because I couldn’t REACH them! They were on the top shelf and he’s tall!”

“ _Mm-hm_.”

“Ugh whatever, I’ll probably be out for a few hours. You good for dinner?”

Still not looking up from her phone, Marnie smiled and waved her off. “I can grab something with Bede. You go have fun.”

“I’m writing a history paper.”

“With some cute help.”

“Oh my God GOOD BYE.”

Marnie’s cackling followed her down the hallway as she grumbled her way across the balcony and down the stairs. Sure she wasn’t wrong, the librarian was cute, but he was just doing his job! She didn’t even know his name! Admittedly she could have gone earlier in the day, but she knows he works the second shift… but that still doesn’t mean anything! It makes sense she’d go when he was working in case she needed help! He’d helped her before and would better know what she needed!

She was lying to herself.

Goddammit.

\---

He’s at the front desk when she walks in. Gold eyes glance up from the computer at the automatic door chime and he gives her a little wave. Hands full of bag and fallen scarf, she nods back at him.

“Paper still giving you trouble?”

“Ugh, yes. I need to look up a few more things, it seems. Are any of the study rooms open?”

He nods, pushing back from the desk and rolling on his chair to the table behind him, flipping through a few folders in a box with one hand before pulling out a laminated room pass and pushing off the floor to roll back to the desk, holding the pass out for her. “I haven’t re-shelved the books you used last time yet, they should still be in the cart by the room you used. Let me know if you need help finding more sources.”

She takes the pass and nods. “Thanks. I may need them.”

He offers a half smile and a mock salute. “Good luck.”

She checks the pass number for her study room and sees that it’s the same one she’d used two days ago when she was here last. The cart is still next to the door and the only books left on it were the ones she had been using. She tries not to think about it too hard as she grabs the books and unlocks the door.

He’s still there when she walks out around closing time, spinning idly in his chair with his head back, trying to balance a pen on the bridge of his glasses. It rolls over his forehead and briefly gets stuck in his thick fringe before clattering to the floor. She tries not to snicker at the utterly offended look he shoots it before pulling the recline lever to tilt back far enough to pick it up, nearly bending all the way backwards, and then she’s just trying not to stare and let her mind drag the thought of how flexible he apparently is straight into the gutter. He pops the lever again and is quickly forced back upright, eyes widening slightly as he notices her.

“Oh. Hi.” It’s hard to tell if that’s a blush or not because of his dark skin, but he does look slightly embarrassed that she saw that. He blinks and the moment is gone before he offers her his usual lopsided smile. “Any progress?”

Thankful for the change of subject, she sighs a bit and hands him the pass to the room back. “Not as much as I’d like, but yes. Thanks for leaving the books out, by the way. I think you can put them back now, I’m pretty sure I got what I needed from them.”

He rolls back to the folder and puts the pass back in before rolling back to the desk and logging out of his computer. “Will do.” He stands, stretches, and glances back at her as he walks around the desk to head off to do whatever he has to do before locking up. “Careful getting home.”

She waves and walks out the door, glancing at her phone to check for any missed texts while she was working with her phone on silent. She sees one from Marnie.

_Any luck on that number?_

She types in a very creatively worded response and shoves her phone in her pocket.

\---

Hop watches her go for longer than he probably should before he shakes his head and goes to make his rounds. Truthfully he already had and was supposed to lock up like ten minutes ago, but he didn’t want to disturb her and staying late wasn’t always a problem, if a little lonely. She had been the last person in the library for at least four hours, as not a lot of people stayed much past 6 or 7 and college students pulling all-nighters for exams or papers often went to the campus library.

He’d asked her once about that, out of curiosity. She had kind of sighed and told him that the campus library was always so crowded she couldn’t get any work done and had decided to just come to the city library to work instead. He couldn’t blame her. He’d more or less done the same thing.

He went over a mental checklist as he grabbed the cart by the study room she’d used, re-shelving the books he’d left for her on it. He’d vacuumed yesterday, trash was taken out, unshelved books had been carted for re-shelving tomorrow… he thinks he’s good. One last glance in the study room makes him notice something small on the floor reflecting the light. He flips the light on and sees it’s a pen. He’s not sure if it’s hers or not but he picks it up and puts it in his pocket anyway. She did mention needing more sources and hadn’t seemed to get any more books, so she’d likely be back. Satisfied, he walked back to the front, turning off lights as he went, before turning off and locking the sliding door and heading home.

Leon is still awake when he walks in, sprawled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watching some cooking reality show.

“Hey. Late night?”

“Nah, not really,” Hop replies, dropping his backpack and moving to grab a soda from the fridge. “Just took a little longer to close is all.”

He can hear the smirk in Leon’s voice all the way from the other room. “History paper girl there again?”

Hop sighs. This again. “Yeah, she’s still working on it.”

“Asked her out yet?”

“Oh my God, Lee.”

Leon is now hanging over the back of the couch and grinning far too widely at him. “You said yourself that she was cute, what’s the problem?”

Hop rolls his eyes. “That it’s unprofessional and more than a little creepy, adding on the fact that I don't even know her name? Or if she’s even single?”

“Well have you asked?”

“ _NO!_ See reasons one and two!”

Leon sticks his tongue out at him and slides back to his original position on the couch. Hop kicks his legs out of the way to have space to sit. “I don’t wanna hear this from you when you’ve been dating the same girl for seven years and still haven’t given her a ring.”

Leon splutters incoherently and drops the subject, silently admitting defeat.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s later than her usual time when she’s back a couple days later. He smiles up at her as she walks in. “Late night?”

She’s looking at her phone but blinks up at him at the question, then shakes her head with a small smile. “My roommate and her boyfriend have decided that I don’t get out enough so they dragged me out to dinner.”

“Ah,” he nodded. “Been there. How’d it go?”

“It was okay, the food was good,” she adjusted the shoulder strap on her bag as she stood in front of his desk. “At least they’ve given up on trying to set me up with random people whenever we go out. That was the worst.”

Hop winced in sympathy. “Oof. Been there too. I’m sorry.”

“How did you deal with it?”

“Hiding, mostly. And getting my brother drunk enough to just focus on his girlfriend.” She laughs then, and he silently congratulates himself before reaching down into his bag under the desk, coming back up with the pen he’d found, holding it out to her. “Did you lose a pen? I found this in the study room after you left.”

She blinks down at it and takes it from him. “I… actually didn’t notice it was missing, but yes. Thank you.”

He glances back at the file box where the room passes were kept, then looks back up at her. “No one really comes in at all this late if you just want to use a table, but I can grab you a room pass if you want?”

She raises an eyebrow and looks around. “I noticed it got pretty quiet after 5 or 6. A table would probably be nice. The rooms do help, but they get kind of stuffy after a bit.”

Hop nodded in the opposite direction of the rooms she usually used. “There’s a few over there with windows, if that helps. They usually get grabbed first but I can reserve one for you.”

That seems to catch her off guard and oh wow, is she blushing? “I… that…. may not be a good idea honestly. I’m pretty easily distracted and will probably just stare out the window the whole time. I was taking the soundproofed ones on purpose.”

Hop shrugged and hauled himself up out of his chair. “Fair enough. You mentioned needing some more sources the other day, can I help you find anything?”

“I may need some help, yes… if you’re not too busy.”

Hop grinned and gestured dramatically to the empty library. “I dunno, as you can see it’s really busy in here.”

\---

She makes sure to take a table not in direct sight of the front desk. She hadn’t been lying when she’d told him she was easily distracted and she absolutely did not trust herself to not just stare at him until closing time. He’d been incredibly helpful this time and there was a large pile of books on the table behind her laptop, several of which he’d had to get down for her yet again because apparently only tall people needed history books. He’d actually laughed when she’d grumbled that out loud.

She turned the pen he’d returned to her over in her hand. She hadn’t been lying when she’d told him she didn’t notice it missing but would still be sad to lose it. It wasn’t anything fancy, but was a heavy metal pen with a shiny metallic purple finish that Bede had given her for her last birthday. She’d actually known him a little longer than Marnie, and he had immediately been struck speechless when she’d introduced them. They’d been together for two years now and she had been just as surprised as anyone else who knew them, but they were clearly happy so she was happy for them. She shook her head and went back to scribbling down page numbers and other notes. The library closed in two hours and she needed to get at least _some_ work done before they both had to leave.

He’s vacuuming the children’s section downstairs when she finishes her notes. Sadly that’s all she’ll have time for tonight. She’ll have to ask him to leave the books out again. He probably wouldn't hear her so she tears a page out of her notebook and writes a quick note on it asking him to do so. She packs up everything and leaves her bag on the table before jogging down the stairs and waving to get his attention, holding her note up for him to read. He nods and gives her a thumbs up and she mouths a quick “thank you” before heading back upstairs and heading out.

\---

Leon is sixteen hours into a twenty-four hour charity stream when Hop gets home, carrying a bag of Wendy’s that he’d asked him to get on the way home. He knocked on the door to the third bedroom-turned-recording room and held the bag out through the door. Leon, clearly high on a half empty twelve pack of mountain dew, was not having it, and he grabbed Hops’ wrist and pulled him into the room.

“Thank you for the food!” Leon deposited the bag on his desk and pulled Hop to him, tossing an arm over his shoulder. “Say hi to my little bro, everyone!”

Oh boy.

  
  


Hop glances at Leon’s secondary monitor to see that he’d swapped the game and the face cam and they were both currently the focus. His eyes immediately dart to the stream chat. There are so many heart emojis.

_“Cryptid!”_

_”He!”_

_“A little brother has appeared!”_

_“He’s so tall omg”_

_“GLASSES!!!”_

_“They’re both so cute omg”_

_“Is he single??”_

NOPE.

Hop gives a little wave and smile and immediately ducks under Leon’s arm and heads for the door.

Leon bursts out laughing. “Oh come on, look! You have so many fans!”

“NOPE.” Hop slams the door behind him and sighs. It’s not the first time he’s been in one of Leon’s streams and videos, but he was usually either in the background or yelling at him off camera about something, which had earned him a reputation on the channel and Leon’s fans had begun calling him a cryptid due to him usually being not on screen at all or out of focus due to the autofocus on the face cam focusing on Leon.

Leon often asked if he should say something about it, if it was making Hop uncomfortable, but Hop was okay with being a random occurrence in the odd video. A younger Hop would have thrived on the attention, begged to be in all of Leon’s streams and videos, but now? He had a quiet life, and was happy with it. He didn’t thrive on the attention as much as his brother did.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gah, sorry this took so long! This chapter did not want to be written. Another reason it took so long is because I've added art to each chapter! And I'm the slowest artist alive. -_-

He’s reshelving books near the study rooms when a scream from one of them makes him jump hard enough to drop the stack he’s holding back on the cart with a responding _clang_. He runs to the only occupied one and glances through the slat window on the door to see her sitting in front of her laptop with her head in her hands. He pushes the door the rest of the way open.

“Are you alright?!”

She flinches and looks up at him, embarrassed. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I thought these rooms were soundproofed.”

“Well they are,” he offers a half smile and nods at the door frame. “But apparently the door was cracked.”

She pushes her laptop back a few inches to give herself room to bury her face in her arms on the table. “Sorry. Hope I didn’t scare anyone.”

He shrugged. “Well you definitely startled me, but we’re the only ones here.”

She groaned and mumbled another apology into the table.

Hop looks at her for a long time, weighing his options, before stepping in the rest of the way and closing the door behind him. She sighs and picks her head up, only to blink when she notices he’s still there. He grabs the chair across from her and flips it around, folding his arms on the back before sitting down.

“Run into a wall?”

She sighs, staring ruefully at her screen. “Something like that.”

“What’s going on?”

She stares at her screen some more, eyebrows drawing together in thought, before sighing again and looking back up at him. “Can’t words.”

He hummed in sympathy. “Yeah… that’ll happen. God knows it’s happened to me more than I’d have liked.”

“You probably didn’t sound like you were being murdered,” she mumbled under her breath.

He chuckled at that. “You’d be surprised. Apparently I gave my brother nightmares and he ended up making me come here to write papers instead of staying home after a bit. Frustration screaming is often a part of the writing process. Don’t feel too bad.”

A corner of her mouth twitched up at that, and she leaned forward on the table, pushing her hair back from her face and effectively hiding behind her computer. “I’d ask what degree you have to have to write that many papers, but if you’re working here, I’d guess some kind of English degree?”

“Masters in Library and Information Science.”

She reappeared from behind her screen, eyes wide. “That’s a thing?”

He nodded. “It’s not exactly common knowledge, but yeah. You need a master’s degree in ‘how to library’ to be a librarian.

“That… sounds like it would require writing a lot of papers.”

Hop sighed. “Oh yeah. Trust me when I say that I know what you’re going through.”

“How… how long did it take you?”

“Two years, and I was an absolute wreck for a good part of the second one.” He dropped his chin onto his arms. “When is this due?”

She blinked at the subject change, but seemed grateful for it. “Uh…” she clicked around on her laptop for a bit, probably checking a calendar. “Four weeks.”

He nodded. “How far are you?”

She sighed, tapping a couple fingers on the table. “The rough draft is done, just need to do revisions and sources and such, just… ugh.”

Hop nodded. “Plenty of time, then. Can you hold out for like…” he glanced at his watch. “Ten minutes-ish?”

She cocked her head at him, understandably confused. “I… yes? What for?”

“That’s about how long it’ll take me to finish up for the night and lock up. I’ll come get you when I’m done. Just… surf the web or play games or something. Or I can get you a book. You need a break.”

She blinked owlishly at him before hiding behind her hair a bit. “I… okay.” She looked up at him quickly as he pushed off his elbows to stand. “I’m sorry, you’ve been so helpful these past couple weeks and I’ve never asked you your name.”

Hop blinked and glanced down at the badge on his lanyard. The damn thing had flipped itself around to the blank side again. And probably had every time he’d seen her. “Well this thing is useless,” he grumbled to himself, flipping it back over again. “I’m Hop.”

She smiled. “Gloria.”

He pushed his chair back under the table and nodded to her with a small smile. “I’d say nice to meet you, but you’re right. It’s been a couple weeks. Sorry my badge is stupid or you’d have the advantage here.” He opened the door and stepped out before moving to close it behind him. “Be back in a bit.”

\---

She stared at the door for a bit after he left before shaking herself out of the daze she had probably been in since she noticed he’d stayed in the room, only now registering what he’d said before he left. She looked at her laptop. He’d suggested surfing the web or something but she honestly didn’t want to look at anything involving words right now. She saved her work and closed everything down, closing the laptop and packing everything up.

She’s sitting at the table with her jacket on and her bag ready to go when he comes back with a heavy denim jacket on and a green backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Ready to go?”

She blinked up at him. “Go?”

He nodded. “You got any classes or anything going on early tomorrow?”

“No…”

“You like bubble tea?”

She nodded, still somewhat confused.

He just grinned back at her and held the door for her. “I told you you were taking a break right? My treat.”

She manages a small embarrassed smile and follows him to the front door. He pulls another lanyard out of his pocket with all his keys on it as soon as they’re outside to lock the sliding doors. There are at least three cartoon sheep figures on his keys, one of which she recognizes as that little round sheep Pokémon the internet lost its collective mind over a few months back. There are two more sheep hanging from the zippers on his backpack.

Well at least now she knew his favorite animal.

\---

He takes her to a small café that was probably a coffee shop in a past life about a five minute walk from the library. She’s surprised it’s still open at 11:30. A red haired man looks up from the bar as they walk in, and she guesses Hop is a regular because he clearly knows him. He returns Hop’s mock salute with a wave, and she’s pretty sure just by looking at him the man could probably lift the entire bar if he wanted to.

Hop leads her to a small couch facing the back window, asking about her flavor preferences as she sits down before shrugging out of his jacket and dumping it on her shoulders as he moves back to the counter to order.

Oh.

Oh dear.

His jacket is very heavy, very warm, lined with very soft sherpa fleece, and he seems to use a very nice aftershave because it also smells nice. She’s grateful the couch faces away from the counter because she’s burrowed pretty deep into it by the time he gets back. Thankfully he doesn’t say anything and just gives her an amused look before setting her tea down in front of her.

“So you’re a history student?” He asks after a few minutes of surprisingly comfortable silence while they both nurse their tea and stare out the window. It had started to sprinkle a little as they’d walked here and was now full on raining.

She shook her head. “No, just history class. I’m still general studies because I’m here on an athletic scholarship and… haven’t really given much thought to a major yet.”

He’s sitting across the couch from her, his back against the armrest to face her, but with how small it is, he’s not really that far. He nods thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I’d kind of figured you an athlete.”

Gloria raised an eyebrow at him. “How so?”

He gives her a brief once-over before shrugging with a small smirk. “Because you look like you could snap me in half without breaking a sweat. What do you play?”

Oh. She hadn’t expected that answer. She’s sure she’s blushing but chooses to ignore it. “Volleyball and softball. Currently volleyball, softball season ended in June.”

Hop nodded. “I… didn’t really do much in college. Apparently trying to cram a three year degree into two years because you wanted to challenge yourself means you don’t really have time for much else.”

Gloria turned to mimic his position, leaning against her armrest to face him. “Do you regret that?”

He stares into his drink, idly swirling the contents as he thinks about his answer. “I’m not sure. Sometimes yes, most times… not really. I was in study groups for some of my classes and some of them managed to drag me to a party or two, but I wouldn’t ever be there for very long before just… getting overwhelmed and leaving. I don’t really like the taste of alcohol and that’s kind of the point of most college parties.” He looks back up at her and shrugs. “If there wasn’t a dog present I usually wasn’t around for more than like an hour. As for the academic aspect... I was kind of a mess my last semester so I may regret pushing my sanity that far, I suppose.”

Gloria chuckled. “Is that when the screaming started?”

“Nah, that’d been going on for a bit. That was when the screaming was joined by incoherent mumbling after two days of little more than caffeine and whatever I could throw in the microwave before I’d finally pass out on day three.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, shoving his fingers through his hair. “That part may have been a mistake. But it’s over and I’m not doing it again. It sucked.” The bell from the door chimes again, drawing his attention to the one employee in the café as he flipped the sign on the door over to closed. “We’re not keeping you here are we, Milo?”

Milo glances over at them before pointedly looking out the window behind them at the pouring rain. “I’m not goin’ out in that. Not gonna make you either. I’m closin’ up but you two can stay here at least till it lets up.”

Hop raised an eyebrow. “Kabu won’t mind?”

Milo snorted. “Kabu left me here by myself tonight so I frankly don’t care. Besides he likes you so I doubt he’d mind.”

Yeah. Hop was definitely a regular here.

\---

The rain doesn’t let up for another two hours. Hop and Gloria pass the time either in idle conversation or just staring out the window in companionable silence. At one point she takes out her phone and starts taking pictures of the café. It’s very cozy and in addition to the couch they were on there were several corners filled with armchairs and beanbags. She was definitely coming back here later, with or without Hop.

After her third failed attempt at a decent selfie, with Hop watching in amusement at her scowls every time she looks at her phone, he surprises her by scooting next to her and throwing an arm over her shoulder before taking her phone and holding it high above them both. She manages to get over her shock and smile with him before he takes the picture and hands her phone back. She looks at the picture and thanks him before saving it.

  
  


He’s kind enough to walk her to her apartment building, but stops at the stairs, keeping a respectful distance. She immediately crushes the small part of her that’s disappointed in that in favor of the rest of her that’s grateful because she A) isn’t sure if she wants him to know where she lives because while she finally has his name, she still doesn’t know him all that well, and B) is absolutely positive Marnie is waiting up for her and neither of them will get any peace if she figures out who Hop is. 


	4. Chapter 4

So she might have set the selfie as her wallpaper. She also might have left her phone on the kitchen counter while she went to take her morning (well, afternoon now) shower. So when she comes out to see Marnie with her phone in her hand, she instantly braces herself for the likely embarrassing line of questions that are undoubtedly coming. She doesn’t expect the placid look Marnie gives her when she notices her walking in.

“You know Hop?”

… She also wasn’t expecting _that_. “ _You_ know Hop?”

Marnie nodded. “He was in that math class I hated like three semesters ago. He’s also probably the only reason I passed that class because the professor was terrible. The whole study group bonded over a mutual hatred for her. I didn’t know him all that well but I remember being insanely jealous of him at first and then feeling really sorry for him later.”

Gloria blinked. “How come?”

“Well I was jealous because he was graduating that semester, with a master’s and everything. And then I felt sorry for him because… well… he was graduating that semester. With a master’s and everything. He was kind of a mess the second half. The whole study group ended up being a support group for him sometimes because everyone could tell when he was stressing.”

“Wow. He did mention that, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

Marnie nodded. “I never did ask what his degree was even in.”

“Library and Information Science,” Gloria replies without thinking.

There’s a long silence and Gloria suddenly realizes the hole she’s dug for herself as Marnie slowly smirks at her. “Oh _really_.”

“Oh no.”

“So _that’s_ why you were so late last night. And why you were so eager to throw that cup away.” Marnie glances over at the bin by the counter and picks up Gloria’s bubble tea cup from last night off the top of the pile before she can stop her. Gloria curses herself for not taking the trash out before going to bed last night. The name on the sticker is his. “And he bought you tea. That’s cute as fuck.” Another smirk in Gloria’s direction. “And you said you were just waiting out the rain.”

“I was!” She practically yells back before sighing. Screw it. She’s not living it down now. “We were. I might have had a bit of a breakdown over my paper and he might have heard me and told me I needed a break.”

Marnie smiled. “That sounds like him. So he took you to Kabu’s and you had a nice date while waiting out the rain.”

“Oh my God it wasn’t a date. He felt sorry for me. Also what, you know this place?”

Marnie rolled her eyes. “How do you think _he_ learned about it? Last I checked the boy didn’t go outside much. Some guy in our study group who worked there took us there a lot after our meetups. Got us all in on his employee discount.” She tossed the cup back in the bin and set Gloria’s phone down on the counter. Gloria practically snatched it back. “I’m a little disappointed though.”

Gloria cocked her head, confused. “About what?”

Marnie walks around the counter to the couch and drops onto it with a dramatic sigh. “I was so looking forward to meeting your librarian and giving him the shovel talk,” she ignores Gloria’s choke and glances at her over the armrest. “But it’s _Hop_ and for all the frazzled mess he was, he’s still a good guy. I approve.”

The only response Gloria can manage is a strangled grumble before she flees to her room and slams the door, cursing her friend’s intuition.

Marnie watches her go before picking her own phone up and scrolling through her contacts.

\---

Hop’s phone manages to vibrate itself off his bedside table before the ringtone wakes him up enough to reach for it. He groans and rolls over to hang off the side of his bed, squinting at the floor before picking it up and heaving himself back into a sitting position, holding the screen close enough to his face to be able to read it without his glasses on. Freaking astigmatism. Who the hell was calling him at the ungodly hour of… oh. After 2. Well then. 

Marnie.

Did he know a Marnie?

Clearly he did, as he had their number. He swiped at the contact, hoping he’d taken a picture to go with it, as remembering names was not a skill he possessed. A girl with black hair shaved into an undercut stared back at him with piercing blue eyes, pushing her cheeks up with her fingers in imitation of a smile. He vaguely remembers her from one of his last classes.

Why was she calling him? He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in almost two years. Why did he even still have her number? Why did she have his?

Probably a wrong number or accidental dial. Unfortunately curiosity was a weakness of his so he swiped to pick up anyway. “H’lo?”

“So you’re the one helping my roommate write her history paper. Small world.”

“I… wha… Gloria??”

“That would be her, yes. Are you always this coherent?”

“You woke me up. One brain cell. Still pulling the rope start.”

“It’s 2:30.”

“Was out late.”

“I know.”

He can hear the smirk in her voice. “Ah shit.”

“Thanks for that, by the way. She was kind of a mess when she left yesterday. She seemed a lot better when she got home.”

Well that was… not the response he expected. “No problem?”

“Permission to give her your number?”

Well shit, he’s awake now.

She even has the audacity to laugh when his response is something between a “what?” and a choke. “I could just add you to our group chat if you’re not comfortable with that.”

“I- wait- wha-?”

“What? It’s not like you two are getting anything done on your own.”

Oh lord. He remembered her now. “Shit. You’re still as direct as ever I see.”

“Yes, well, beating around the bush never solved anything outside the bedroom.”

“Oh my God.”

“If it’s any consolation, she’s currently hiding in her bedroom a blushing mess since I saw her phone. That selfie you took is her wallpaper, you know.”

Oh. Well great. Now he’s a blushing mess in his own room. They should start a club.

Oh, fuck it.

“Sure.”

She sounds confused in her response. “Sure?”

“Sure. Give her my number. Add me to the chat. S’fine.”

Marnie actually hesitates. “Are you sure?”

He finds himself smiling a little. She’d always been big on consent in all forms. “Yeah. I’m sure. I’ll send you my discord.”

They actually talk for a bit after that to catch up. He hangs up when his phone’s about to die about twenty minutes later and heads to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Leon glances up as he walks by his room.

“Put a shirt on, bro.”

He only laughs at Hop’s responding one finger salute as he continues on. He’s got eggs out of the fridge and a pan on the stove before he nearly jumps out of his skin at a quiet “one over easy for me please” from the kitchen table.

“Jesus Christ, Sonia. Didn’t hear you come in.”

He did not like the devious tone of her smile. “Yet I heard you come in. At around 3 am.”

“Went to Kabu’s. Was waiting out the rain.”

“The rain started at 12:30 and the library closes at midnight. Even if you decided to wait it out at Kabu’s, Kabu’s is five minutes away, and the rain stopped around 2:30.”

Hop sighed. “And where is this going exactly?”

Sonia’s smile had turned downright predatory. “Did you know that between Kabu’s and wherever that girl you were walking home last night lives, is a perfect view from the balcony window in this very apartment?”

Oh boy. Forehead, meet cabinet.

“I feel so left out,” she sighed in mock hurt. “Neither you nor Leon told me you had a girlfriend.”

“That’s because I don’t,” he mumbled into the wood.

“Oh. Was that history paper girl then?”

Ooohhhh boy.

His responding grumble was apparently enough of an answer because she clapped once in delight. “Progress is being made!”

“Oh my God, stop.”

Sonia had been such a permanent fixture in his life thanks to her friendship and eventual relationship with his brother that she was basically an older sister to him. He trusted her with many things that he wouldn’t even tell Leon, but he was now slightly beginning to regret confiding in her about a week ago that he thought Gloria was kind of cute.

Sonia laughed. “Alright, I’ll back off. Seriously though, what went on last night?”

Hop told the whole story while making himself eggs, bacon and toast for dinner, but not before making Sonia’s egg first. She waited patiently for him to start stuffing his face before saying anything.

“A breakdown over a paper, huh? That sounds awfully familiar. So has anything changed on your end?”

Hop says nothing for a while, and Sonia lets him gather his thoughts before he speaks. “I… enjoy her company. She makes the last few hours of my shift better if for no other reason than to know that I’m not completely alone in the building. I think I can call her a friend after last night. We talked a lot. Finally know each other’s names.”

Sonia nodded. “Are you still attracted to her?”

“I… yeah. Can’t really say anything beyond that for sure, though.”

She smiled at him. “Look at you, all mature and honest about your feelings. I’m so proud.”

Hop rolled his eyes. “I watched you and my brother dance around each other in denial for five years before you could admit your feelings to yourselves, and one more year before you finally admitted them to each other. You’ll forgive me if I don’t want to go through that myself.”

Sonia grimaced. “Touché.” She took her plate and Hop’s and rinsed them off before glancing back at him. “Dishwasher dirty or clean?”

“Clean. I unloaded it before I went to bed last night.”

Sonia nodded and set the plates in the bottom rack. “Don’t forget your meds.”

“Shit. Thanks.”

Sonia glares at the door frame where she can see Leon trying to hide and eavesdrop at the same time while Hop digs through the cupboard. He gives her a sheepish smile and quickly leaves.


End file.
